Cheryl Ruth Hines (born September 21, 1965) is an American actress, comedian, producer and director, known for her role as Larry David's wife Cheryl on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, for which she was nominated for two Emmy Awards. She also starred as Dallas Royce on the ABC sitcom Suburgatory. In 2009, she made her directorial debut with Serious Moonlight. She is also a poker enthusiast with career winnings totaling $50,000.[1]

Before getting her break in Hollywood, Hines worked as a waitress, television reporter, and telephone operator, as well as personal assistant to Rob Reiner, when she moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. Though Reiner did not play a critical role in her career, he would watch her shows when she began acting.[citation needed] She has had guest appearances on television shows such as Swamp Thing and Unsolved Mysteries.

Hines began her acting career by doing improvisational comedy at The Groundlings Theater. Among the people she studied with was Lisa Kudrow.[3] She also learned to write comedy sketches, which served her well when working on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm as Larry David's fictional wife, Cheryl. The show is written using the retroscripting technique, in which the plot outlines are generally and loosely drawn, and the individual actors improvise to create the dialogue.

Hines, Grand Marshal of the Springtime Tallahassee Grand Parade, providing autographs and pictures for residents of Tallahassee on April 6, 2013

"When the show first came out, people from Tallahassee thought, 'Well, maybe Cheryl got married'", she recalls of the show's initial reception. "Sometimes, I do feel like I live two lives."[5] Hines received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2003 and 2006.[6] Speaking about being cast on the show, Hines has said that "Until Curb, I’d done small roles, really small roles. They wanted to cast an unknown actress. It worked in my favor that I hadn’t done anything. It changed my life."[7]

In 2009, Hines starred in the ABC sitcom In the Motherhood. It was loosely an adaptation to the web series. She played Jane. The series was short-lived lasting 5 out of 7 episodes due to low ratings.

During the 2009-2010 season of Brothers and Sisters, she guest-starred as Kitty Walker McCallister's campaign manager, Buffy. It was announced in July 2010 that Hines would be joining the cast of the new Nickelodeon films based on their series The Fairly Oddparents, A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up Timmy Turner! and A Fairly Odd Christmas. She played Wanda, the main character's (Timmy's) godmother.[8]

Hines married Paul Young, founder of the management firm Principato-Young, on December 30, 2002. They have one child, daughter Catherine Rose Young, b. March 8, 2004. On July 20, 2010, Hines and Young filed papers for their divorce after nearly eight years of marriage.[12]